Tang Sulan’s Healing Fairy Tales

This book is a collection of philosophical fairy tales for children in middle and senior grades at primary school. The series falls into ten themes： friendship， wisdom， great love， kindness， nature， growth， dreams， contentment， affection， and happiness. The stories extract profound but simple life philosophies from ordinary creatures and things in nature and life. The young readers will feel the good in the world and come to know themselves as they read these fairy tales.

Tang Sulan

Tang Sulan is a famous children’s literature writer， Vice Chairman of Hunan Federation of Literary and Art Circles， and a professor at the School of Literature， Hunan Normal University. Her works include The Story of Stupid Wolf， The Beautiful Little Witch， etc.

Tang Sulan’s Healing Fairy Tales

Authored by Tang Sulan

Illustrated by Miao Sang

New World Press

April 2020

280.00 （CNY）

Our house was a duplex. The space in the living room on the first floor extended to the roof on the second floor. During the decoration， many families used luxurious crystal chandeliers which hung down from the roof. Therefore， the houses looked as brilliant as gorgeous palaces. However my mother disliked this style， and our house was not decorated with large crystal chandeliers. Therefore， our living room looked very large， especially the roof， which looked mysterious.

One day， my mother saw a camphor tree stump in the handicraft market. It was a stool made of a huge camphor tree root， which could either be laid in the house as an ornament or used as a chair. Besides， it gave out the natural fragrance of the camphor tree. Mother put this stump in the living room， facing the roof on the second floor. Whenever a guest visited our house， my mother would invite the guest to smell the camphor tree stump and sit on it. This was my mother’s favorite decoration.

But now the camphor tree stump has grown into a huge camphor tree， sturdy and vigorous. Its crown reaches the roof and covers the whole living room.

Beside the living room， there used to be a wisteria swing chair. Now all the wisterias weaving around the swing chair are alive. The wisteria flowers are in full bloom and covering the vine stand like a waterfall.

Just now， I focused on the tree and the waterfall of wisterias， but I didn’t notice the floor. It was covered with grass！ It seemed that the grass had spread from the balcony and covered all the floors and even the stairs.

“Are we dreaming or awake？” Mother asked.

“Awake.”

“How do you know？”

“Because I’m hungry，” I said.

Fortunately， our household utensils were made of stainless steel， and our dining table was made of tempered glass. If they were also made of wood， I couldn’t imagine what trees they would have become.

“Why did they become like this？” I asked mother.

“I don’t know，” mother said， and she asked me， “Do you like this？”

“Yes， I do，” I said.

“Me， too，” mother said.

At this moment， we heard a “Moo–”， like an ox. The sound came from the study upstairs.

“An ox？ Could there be an ox in our house？” mother said in horror.

We ran upstairs. As soon as we ran to the stairs， we saw an ox’s head， then half of an ox， and then a whole ox！ The ox was standing on the stairs， tilting its head， and looking at my mother and me with its big and bright eyes. The ox bowed its head， chewed a handful of grass， and raised its head again. It mooed loudly， facing the empty living room！